A Ring of Rubies By L.T. Meade Published by Ward, Lock and Co Ltd, London. This edition dated 1906. A Ring of Rubies, by L.T. Meade. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ A RING OF RUBIES, BY L.T. MEADE. CHAPTER ONE. STORMING THE CITADEL. I have often been asked to tell the story of the Ruby Ring, and I now do so for the sake of my children. It may instruct them a little; it will certainly amuse and interest them. I am nearly thirty now, but when the story of the ring happened, I was between nineteen and twenty. It is not so long ago, therefore, and all the events stand out quite clear and strong in my memory. We lived in the country, about thirty miles away from London. There were plenty of quick trains, even ten years ago, and my father and brothers used to go to town every morning, and return in time for a sort of mixed meal between dinner and supper, at night. My mother and I had rather a dull life; the only event of any moment in the twenty-four hours being the evening meal when the men of the family were at home. I was the only girl, and the youngest of the family. I was not petted nor made much of in any way; ten years ago girls were not fussed over as they are now. My father had none of the advanced ideas with regard to women; he thought the less girls were heard of outside their homes, the better. He was a very good, honourable man, but a great autocrat. What he said and thought was echoed both by my mother and brothers. They all preached to me from morning till night the doctrine of staying quietly at home, of doing nothing, and of waiting until your fortune dropped into your lap. Of course, we were horribly poor; not in the exciting sort of way of wanting food, and a covering for our heads, or anything dramatic of that sort; but poor in the way which takes the courage out of a young life more than anything else--a penny had always to be looked at twice, a dress had always to be turned twice, meals had to be scanty, fires small, and my mother's whole time was spent contriving and planning how to make two ends meet, consequently life was very narrow and dull. One day, on a certain sunshiny morning, a few months after I was nineteen, I awoke early, lay for an hour thinking hard, then jumped up and dressed myself. As I arranged my thick hair before the glass, I looked attentively at my face. I had a rather square face; the lower part of it in particular was somewhat heavily moulded; my mouth had very firm lines; my eyes were dark and deeply set. Certainly I was not beautiful, but my face had lots of character; I could see that for myself. "The present state of things cannot go on any longer," I mentally soliloquised. "I'll make a break in the dulness this very day. The fact of my being born a woman shall not shut me out from all joy in life; I'll have the whole subject out with mother after breakfast."